Sunderland

LONDON (Reuters) - Italy midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini became Sunderland's ninth signing of the close season when the Premier League club agreed a reported 8.5-million-pound ($12.84-million) deal with Serie A champions Juventus on Tuesday. The fee and personal terms were settled last week but the deal was not finalised until after Giaccherini's wife gave birth to daughter Caterina. Sunderland said on their website (www.safc.com) that he had signed a four-year deal at the...

(Reuters) - West Ham United have signed Diego Poyet, son of Sunderland manager Gus, from Championship side Charlton Athletic on a four-year-deal, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday. Poyet, 19, becomes the club's fourth summer signing following the arrivals of Argentine striker Mauro Zarate, Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate and defender Aaron Cresswell. No financial details were given. The Spanish-born midfielder represented England at under-17 level and...

(Reuters) - Manchester City's England winger Adam Johnson and Wolverhampton Wanderers' Scotland striker Steven Fletcher have joined Sunderland on four-year deals, the Premier League club announced on Friday. Johnson, 25, had been a bit-part player for the champions last term and was mainly restricted to substitute appearances, meaning he missed out on England's Euro 2012 squad. However, he started in this month's 2-1 friendly win over Italy to pick up his 11th cap. "Adding quality...

(Reuters) - Having secured Sunderland's Premier League status that appeared doomed at the turn of the year, manager Gus Poyet says he can finally afford to relax for the first time in seven months. The Wearsiders became the second team after West Bromwich Albion in 2004-05 to avoid dropping into the second-tier Championship after being bottom at Christmas, Poyet having reinvigorated a bloated squad that seemed resigned to its fate. Wednesday's 2-0 win over West Brom,...

LONDON (Reuters) - Sunderland signed Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone from Premier League rivals Arsenal for an undisclosed fee on Wednesday, moving to replace Belgian international Simon Mignolet who joined Liverpool last month. Mannone, 25, made only 23 appearances in eight years at Arsenal, although he started nine Premier League games last season and another four in the Champions League. He links up with compatriot Paolo Di Canio, who took charge of Sunderland late last season...

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been fined 10,000 pounds after sarcastically praising the match referee and English referees' chief following a key Premier League defeat last month, the FA said on Thursday. The Londoners lost 2-1 at home to a struggling Sunderland side, which ended Mourinho's 77-game unbeaten league record at Stamford Bridge and hit their title bid, with Manchester City now poised to wrap up the championship this weekend. "I want to...

(Reuters) - Sunderland defender Phil Bardsley has apologised to the Premier League club after mocking the club's opening day defeat to Fulham on social media. The club suspended the 28-year-old, currently sidelined with a foot injury, after he posted a comment on Instagram which read: "Great opening day. Hahahhahaha hahahhaha!!!" The Scotland international had previously angered manager Paolo Di Canio after a late night visit to a casino. "I would like to apologise...

By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester United's deficiencies were laid bare by relegation battlers Sunderland on Saturday as a 1-0 home loss punctured the optimism induced by Ryan Giggs's promotion to caretaker manager. The long-serving Giggs's first taste of managing his boyhood club had a cathartic effect last week in a 4-0 home win against relegation-threatened Norwich City which lifted some of the gloom of the ill-fated and short David Moyes era. However, in-form...

(Reuters) - Ex-Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio described two of his former players as "rotten", while current boss Gus Poyet completed a withering weekend assessment after being left 'bored' by their laboured FA Cup win over fifth-tier Kidderminster Town. Italian Di Canio has not been reluctant to share his feelings about certain members of the English Premier League strugglers who were believed to be behind his sacking in September after only 13 league matches in...

By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - The trap door slammed shut on Cardiff City and Fulham as crushing away defeats condemned both clubs to relegation from the Premier League on Saturday while rejuvenated Sunderland moved to the brink of survival. Sunderland's impressive burst of form continued as they earned a 1-0 win at Manchester United - a result that took them beyond the reach of Cardiff, 3-0 losers at Newcastle United, and Fulham who were crushed 4-1 at Stoke City. ...

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Sunderland striker Fraizer Campbell has joined Championship (second division) leaders Cardiff City on a three-and-a-half-year deal, the Premier League club said on Monday. Campbell, who won his only England cap in February last year, has moved for an undisclosed fee having scored 10 goals in 72 appearances for Sunderland since joining in 2009, including one strike in 15 matches this season. The former Manchester United player, 25, will seek to...

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea were hit with disciplinary action by the English FA on Wednesday as manager Jose Mourinho, midfielder Ramires and coach Rui Faria were charged following last week's Premier League home defeat against Sunderland. Ramires, who could now miss their top-of-the-table clash with Liverpool on Sunday, was hit with a violent conduct charge after appearing to elbow Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson off the ball. The incident was not seen by referee Mike Dean...

(Reuters) - Having secured Sunderland's Premier League status that appeared doomed at the turn of the year, manager Gus Poyet says he can finally afford to relax for the first time in seven months. The Wearsiders became the second team after West Bromwich Albion in 2004-05 to avoid dropping into the second-tier Championship after being bottom at Christmas, Poyet having reinvigorated a bloated squad that seemed resigned to its fate. Wednesday's 2-0 win over West Brom,...

(Reuters) - Cardiff City manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has labelled Sunday's Premier League relegation clash at Sunderland "a proper cup final" and believes two wins from their final three matches will be enough to avoid the drop. Cardiff picked up a point in a 1-1 draw against Stoke City on Saturday to move up to 18th in the table on 30, two points shy of Norwich City in the safety of 17th ahead of the trip to league's bottom side. Sunderland, though, are the form...

(Reuters) - English Premier League strugglers Sunderland could be looking for their fourth manager of the season if current boss Gus Poyet does not get his way in the January transfer window, the Uruguayan has warned. Poyet said he was happy to work alongside director of football Roberto De Fanti and chief scout Valentino Angeloni, providing he had final say on who arrived to try to help his side improve on their 19th position and avoid relegation. "We talked about a...

(Reuters) - Manchester City have not given up on winning the English Premier League title after their 2-2 draw with relegation-threatened Sunderland on Wednesday but they must win their remaining five games, manager Manuel Pellegrini has said. The 2012 champions needed a late Samir Nasri goal to snatch a draw with the bottom-placed Black Cats, a result that left them third in the table on 71 points after 33 games, six behind leaders Liverpool who have played 34 matches. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester City salvaged a point with two late goals to draw 3-3 at home to Sunderland on Saturday but the result helped tip the balance in the Premier League title race in Manchester United's favour. With seven matches to play, City, chasing their first top flight title since 1968, moved on to 71 points, two behind United who would go five clear at the top if they beat lowly Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Monday. Arsenal's seven-match winning league...

(Reuters) - Manchester City must win their last five Premier League matches if they are to be crowned champions, manager Manuel Pellegrini said after the damaging 2-2 home draw against bottom side Sunderland on Wednesday. City took the lead through Fernandinho's early strike but they struggled to hit top gear and Connor Wickham scored a quick double to put Gus Poyet's men in front. With time running out, French midfielder Samir Nasri was on hand to spare City's blushes as his...

(Reuters) - Sunderland say a technical error led to South Korea international Ji Dong-won appearing for the club when he was not eligible. The striker played in four Premier League matches and one Capital One (League) Cup fixture, when the club had not been given international clearance for him after he returned from a loan spell at German side Augsburg. Sunderland took only one point from the league matches Ji appeared in, earned in a 1-1 draw with Southampton in August,...